Apparatus for purifying used lubricating oil and the like



July 12, 1932- c. s. GARLAND ET AL APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING USED LUBRICATING OIL AND THE LIKE 4 sheets sheet 1 Filed Feb. 24. 1927 2 5 W 7 6 w 145v. w V :T 9 9 2 M I 9 z 1 a a! W 5 m (k V MT, AT 2 i A Z 6 2 1 4 y a y g F b v. w

July 12, 1932. c SI GARLAND ET AL APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING USED LUBRICATING OIL AND THE LIKE 4 Sheets-Shet 2 2 0 0 5 9 U f 5 H 4 :EZz:=::: =5 4 III m 4 4 z 4 w/// of z 7 1 7 6 y 12, 1932- c. s. GARLAND ET AL 1,866,970

APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING USED LUBRICATING OIL AND THE LIKE Filed Feb. 24, 1927' 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 y 1932- c s. GARLAND ET AL 1,866,970

APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING USED LUBRICATING OIL AND THE LIKE Filed Feb. 24, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented July 12, 1932 u urr sTATas mm OFFICE GARLAND, rnomns EDWARD HEAGEEQQ MD EOSEPE ALLEN P103), 03? LGHMN, ENG

E03 PUBIFYIR' U933 LEFBBIGA'EIHG 01L AND THE LIKE application filed February 2%, 1827, Serial Ho,

This invention relates to oil reclaimin appar-stirs and has for its object to provi e eificient means for filtering or purifying the lubricating oil used in internal combustion 5 and other engines. Such oil after use free quently contains very fine particles of solid matter produced by the decomposition of the oil and in some cases of the fuel used in the explosive charge in the engine c linder as m Well as dust, d rt, grit and the c and b providing eficient means for removlng suc solid matter the lubricating value of the oil is restored and the oil can be used again in the engine without detriment to the life of the H hearings and moving parts of the engine.

' Attempts-have been made to pro uce ap= paratus capable of performing these functions by employing filtering media such as porous earthenware, interleaving metal laminae, or filter cloths impregnated Wllih some form of filter aid. It has been found that with the exception of those employing the edge filtration principle, all'filters hlilherto applied have been inefiective in remove ing the finer suspended particles, insomuch that it has been impossible hitherto to obtain from oil which has become dirty through the running of an internal combustion engine, oil which is transparent and in condition suh 30 stantially equivalent to that before taking it into use. in some caseswhere a partial-filtration and improvement has been accomplished the filter surface has rapidly become coated with the fine particles removed, which has resulted in the choking of the filterand speedy reduction of the rate of passa e of oil through it to an insignificantly sma fig are,

The resent invention consists in using the heat or the engine which would otherwise be wasted, to heat the oil undergoing filtration, thereby reducing its-viscosity and enabling it to flow'more rapidly through the T filter and the deposited cake of separated matter,if any, upon the filter surface.

"26,761, and in Great Britain March 1, 19%.

a The means for utilizin waste heat from an internal combustion engine for the purpose of alding the filtration and purification of the lubricating oil used in the en inc ma con- In order to prevent untreated oil from being returned from the filter to the engine such 56 as by pressure generated by the gasification of any constituent of the oil, means such as a non-return valve is provided in a pi e used for .conve ing oil from a sump or t e like into whic it has drained from the bearing on surfaces of the engine.

Means may also be provided for regulating and tempering the supply of heatto' the filter so that over heating and deterioration of the oil while undergoing filtration is 66 avoided, and means may also be provided for im roving the heat resisting qualities of the ltering medium used in the filter.

The filtering medium ma be of the kind consisting of superim osed aminae of paper, 70 and it has been foun that in certain conditions of temperature, ressure, and chemical action, the material 0 such laminae has been injured and even caused to fail to function. In some cases resort has been had to laminae of asbestos paper, but it has been found that asbestos paper of the ordinary commercial varieties is not suitable, as the binding ma= tenial commonly emplo ed--such as, paper, starch and glue -partaiie of the disabilities of paper itself and obscure or destroy the satisfactory filtering properties of the asbestos pro or. In accordance with the present invention the filtering packs or piles may be prepared from commercial asbestos paper, by eliminating the organic objectionable binding materials by roasting or incinerat in the filter bodies. This process leaves on y the asbestos itself, pure, in the best filterlng state and free from the detrimental M nary use althou h the indivi presence of organic matter. The filter bodies for all ordiual rings or strips from whic they are composed would have been excessively difiicult or im ossible to handle and manipulate without fo lowing the above method of operation.

thus prepared are amply strong1 edges or the whole filter body, may be strengthened by the treatment described in the specification of British Patent N0.

249,202, of December 17, 1924.

Several difierent methods may be adopted to employ part of the waste heat of the engine for the useful purpose of warming the oil undergoing filtration. In particular the following ways may be mentioned.

(1) A rtion of the exhaust gases may be diverted from the exhaust pi e and caused to flow through a single or double jacket surrounding the filter body or art of it.

(2) The filter may be place in close juxtaposition to the exhaust pipe or other heated part of the engine so as to take u heat by radiation and from the hot air c ose to it.

(3) The filter may be rigidly attached by. a clamp or arm or other suitable connectiona sing e or double jacket attached to e' filter.

The filter body may be wholly or partly immersed in a llquid circulated through a cooling device, for instance the liquid may be circulated by thermo-si honic action and cooled at or near its big est point in the circulatin system. The action of the cooling liqui s may be improved by including in it suitable solids such as fusible metals or alloys or high melting point waxes, which ma be of the same nature as the liquid and me t at a predetermined temperature and by their latent heat tend to keep the temperature constant. liquid surrounding the filter may be maintamed by causin the liquid to boil the vauid.

' order to prevent loss of heat from the oil undergoing filtration, the filter may be surrounded by lagging material at all arts except those in contact with the supp y of heat.

Various methods of carrying out the invention are illustratedby the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a vertical CESBS filter body or casin where extra strength is required the filter- A constant temperature in the the square guide rods 4 urs being con ensed and returned to the view taken at ri ht angles to Fig. 4 and I Figure 6 a plan 1 ustrating one method of attaching the apparatus to the exhaust pipe of an' internal combustion engine; Figures 7 and 8 are respectively side and front eleing apparatus as applied to an internal com-v bustion en ine.

.The use oil purifier as shown 1n Figures 1,

2 and 3 consists of a bod 1 with a funnelshaped bottom surrounde by a hollow space 40 and provided with a sludge outlet 41. The outlet 41 is fitted with a sludge pi e 17 carrying a cap 18. The attachment 0 the sludge pipe 17 is b means of a bushing 15 and a washer 19. the funnel shaped bottom is converted into a partial double jacket by means of a bottom plate 12, which is made gas tight by means of a jointing washer 13 and is secured to the body 1 of the filter by studs 14 and nuts 9.

Oil enters the purifying apparatus by a dirty-used lubricating oil lnlet valve 26 and the passage 42. Overheated oil, as referred to above, 1s prevented from beingreturned to he hollow space 40 surrounding the engine along the supply pipe through generation of pressure in the body of the apparatus, by means of a non-return valve consisting of a s ring 24 and non-return ball 23. The body 0 the apparatus is closed at its upper-end b a top p ate 6 and washers 7 and together wit a cover 2 is held "down tight on the bed 1 by to studs 8 and nuts 9a.

The lterin odies are of the laminae column type an are mounted on guide rods 4 screwed into a grid 3. The grid carries small platforms 44 which support the packs 5 of thin sheet material and .close the lower end of the central passage throu h them. The

tightly against the under side of the top p ate 6, that is between it and the grid 3 thus preventing passage of oil from one side of the top plate to t e other except by way of the filtering acks 5. The top plate 6 is rovided wit circular holes 4a through w ich protrude at their upper end and the filtered oil makes its way, after passing between the laminae of the filtering bodies, alon the passage left by the square rods 4 in t e round ho es in the packs 5 to the delivery side of the topplate 6. The clean lubricating oil then flows away by a clean oil outlet 27 having given up any undesired vapours or light ractions such as gasoline eliminated by the heat through an outlet or breather 28. The cover 2 also carries a compressedair connection 29 for admitting air'in the cleaning operation. The body of the purifier is prevented from losing heat by a lagging of asbestos 22. To heat the filter connection is made to the engine exhaust pipe by one of two connections 20, the

ill

neoaevo exhaust gases escaping by the other to a suitabl arranged pipe. 1

Ilsed lubricating oil from the sump of an engine to which the device is attached is pumped-into the body of the urifier through the inlet 26, and is filtered y being forced between the lamina of the packs 5 under pressure and is subsequently returned to the ubricating system by the outlet 27. The separated solids collect on the outer cylindrical surfaces of the packs and when enou h has collected to slow the operation of t e filter the filter is sim ly cleaned by the following operations. Hhe breather 28, and

cooks of the inlet and outlet 26 and 27 are accumu ated solid matter from the filter sur-,

faces and assisting it tov slide down to the funnel shaped bottom and out through the pipe 17.

The foregoing description and Figures 1, 2 and 3 show the type of filter employed when heating by exhaust gases if a double jacket is employed. When method (2) is employed, and the filter is fixed in close juxtaposition to the exhaust pipe of an internal combustion engine the general details are similar but the hollow chamber round the flannel-shaped bottom is unnecessary and is done away with. The general arrangement of the filter in this case is selfievident without the need of an illustration.

Method (3) where the purifier is attached to an exhaust pipe 47 by a clamp is illus trated in Figures 4, 5 and 6. An intermediate saddle piece 31 is placed between the filter 1 and the exhaust pipe, the exhaust pipe and the filter bein held thereto by straps 32 and 32a fastene by nuts and bolts and 46 as shown. The saddle piece 31 is of such dimensions, particularly cross-section, as may be necessary to conduct the right amount of heat from the exhaust ipe47 to the filter 1. In this case also t e bottom chamber round the funnel-she ed bottom is eliminated. Where method t is used, employing the cooling water system, afilter as shown in Figures 1 and 2 may be employed.

but instead of joining the connections 20 to a branch from the exhaust pipe the filter is incorporated by their help in the cooling water circulating system, and we find it most advantageous for the water to pass from the engine to the filter jacket on its way to the radiator.

Although the non-return valve 23, Fi re 1 is effective in preventing the return 0 accidentally over-heated oil to the engine it is undesirable and unnecessary that the oil in practice should ever become over-heated. To avoid overheating we adopt one or other of several difierent methods. In one method we make use of a' considerable quantity of liquid in which the filter body is wholly or partly immersed the liquid being circulated by thermo-siphon action and cooled at or near its highest point, and tending by its heat capacity to even up the irregularities in flow of heat to the filter. The action of such.- a liqiliid may be improved by including in its so 'ds which may be of the same nature as the liquid and melt at a predetermined'temperature and by their latent heat tend. to keep the temperature constant. Examples of suitable solidsare fusible metals or allo s and high melting oint waxes. In a modification of this metho we cause the liquid to "boil and carrying exhaust gases from the internal com ustion engine. The s ace between the walls is filled to a desired evel, sufilcient to cover the pipe 33, with the liquid to be heated, and the outer wall may carry cooling fins and ribs 340i the well known-type and which-in the case where the liquid is caused to boil-- enable the outer walls if of the vessel to time tion as a reflux condenser. The most convenient' temperature regulating liquid to make use of we find to be water, and to avoid boiling to dryness in exceptional circum stances the level may be kept substantially constant by connection of the jacket with. the radiator.

In a modification the fins are dispensed with and the steam returned to the radiator by a pipe connection. In this filter body, as in the former, the bottom is funnel-shaped and carriesa sludge outlet 41 closed by a sludge cap 18. In another method of regu= lating the tem erature of the filter we transfer the heat 0 the exhaust gases to the filter between the walls 1a and if a pipe 33 passes,

gylconduction from the exhaust pipe itself. 7

e filter body may either be built integral with the exhaust pipe, or, more commonly, we bolt it tightly thereto in the way illustrated in Figures 4, 5 and 6 or otherwise, with such area of contact as to ensure sufiicient conduction of the transference oi the heat necessary. In this arrangement efiective constancy of heating is provided for if the filter be placed fairly close to the exhaust valves, as the volume of exhaust gases tends to vary more than their temperature and the efiect of increasing volume rather than increasingtemperaturs is to heat the exhaust pipe over a greater length, but not greatly to vary its temperature at points on which the gases play at all loads. In all these methods means are provided for automaticall avoiding the transference to the filter b0 y of any detrimental surplus of heat above that required to efiect the eflicient treatment in the filter of the liquid' undergoing filtration. 1 Reference has been made in the earlier art of this specification to the elimination rom oil undergoing filtration of water and light fractions as a result of the heating which it receives. In Figure 1 a breather, 28, is shown, permitting the esca of such light fractions as produce fairly high vapour pressure. We find, however, that the elimi-' nationof such light fractions is greatly assisted, and the filtered oil at the same time is cooled, if means are employed to draw a current of air over the filtered oil as it finds its way back to the sump. One method of arrangin for this isshown' in Figure 9 which shows dia ammatically a filter mounted u on an internal combustion engine 50. n. this case the upper parts of an oil return pipe 35 are made sufiiciently wide to prevent the possibility of becoming filled with filtered oil, and to admit of a cur- 39 rent of air being drawn over the surface of the filtered oil without entraining oil. The

current of air necessary is produced by ati taching a pipe 36 at one end to a suitable osition on the oil delivery pipe 35, while its other end makes connection with the inside of the induction pipe 37 of the ene. Air by this means is continuously rawn in through a cook 38 and passes over the hot oil lying in the head of the filter and horizontal part a of the delivery pipe, cooling it and at the sametime evaporating ofi the water and any light fractions or contaminating oil which it may contain.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. Lubricating oil purifying'apparatus for internal combustion engines comprising in combination a filter means for delivering oil to be purified to said filter, means for delivering the urified oil from the filter, a vessel in which t e filter is contained a casing surrounding said vessel, means for heating the lower part of said vessel by waste heat derived from the engine, means for preventing the temperature rising above a given value and means for maintaining its upper portion sufficiently low to condense oil vapors generated by the heat of its lower portion.

2. Lubricatin oil purifying apparatus for an internal com ustion engine, comprising in combination a filter, means for circulating the oil to be purified through the filter, a vessel containing the filter, means for heating its lower portion by waste heat from the engine, and means for maintaining its upper portion at a temperature sufll'ciently low to condense v I the vessel whilet e heater is arranged below the condenser.

4. Lubricating oil purifying apparatus for an internal combustion engine, comprising a filter, means for circulating the oil to be purified through the filter, a vessel containing the filter, a heat interchanging jacket thereon, means for heating the jacket internally by the exhaust gases of the engine, the upper portion of the jacket being provided externally with radiating ribs of suflicient radiating capacity to condense vapors generated in the heated ortion.

5. Lubricating oil purifying apparatus for an internal combustion engine, comprising a filter, means for circulating the oil to be purified through thefilter, a vessel containing the filter having ajacket for heat interchanging fluid and a heating fluid circulating pipe, the

.jacket being provided at its upper portion only with heat radiating ribs, while the heating fluid circulatingpipe extends through the lower portion of the jacket of the vessel and conveys heat to the vessel.

6. Lubricating oil purifying apparatus for an internal combustion engine, comprising an edge filtration filter, means for heating the lower portion of the same, a heat interchanging jacketed casing containing the filter, means for circulating the oil to be purified through the filter, and circumferential heat radiating ribs on the outer walls of the jacket,

the said ribs being on the upper portion of the jacket only.

7. Lubricating oil purifying apparatus for .an internal combustion engine, comprising in combination a filter, a vessel containing said filter, a jacket on the vessel, means for heating the lower portion of the jacket by waste heat from the engine, and means for cooling the upper portion of the jacket by the external air.

8. Lubricating oil purifying apparatus for an internal combustion engine, comprising in combination a filter, a vessel containing said filter, a jacket on the vessel, a heating fluid circulating pipe, and external cooling ribs, the heating fluid circulating pipe passing through the lower portion of the jacket while the cooling ribs are arranged on the outside of the upper portion only of the jacket.

9. Lubricatlng oil purifying apparatus for an internal combustion engine, comprising in combination a filter, means for circulating oil taining the filter, a casing surrounding the said vessel and containing heat interchanging fluid, means for heatm the lower portion of said vessel througfi the casing by waste heat from the en 'ne, and means for preventing the overheating of the oil in the upper ortion of the vessel.

In witness whereof we atfix our signatures. CHARLES SAMUEL GARLAND. THOMAS EDWARD BEACHAM. JOSEPH ALLEN PICKARD; 

